Cool Yoga for Hot, Humid Weather

Adapt your practice

We’re facing a solid week ahead of temperatures in the low 30’s in our region, accompanied by high humidity. (For Americans, that translates to low 90’s.)

For me, that points to doing my best to stay cool when I do my yoga practice. And I use yoga tools, like meditation, pranayama, relaxation and passive yoga poses, to cool my body and brain.

Consider some of the ways you can support better breathing, for instance, lying supine over bolsters to open your chest. Or doing pranayama seated at the wall with a foam block supporting your sacrum or dorsal thoracic.

The main advantage to working passively is that it requires a minimum amount of effort for maximum benefits. I’ve nicknamed the prop-supported yoga poses ‘flop-asanas’ as you sort of flop over bolsters and blankets. They serve to enhance your breathing, cool your brain and pacify your body’s systems.

Here are a few cool yoga poses

These are some of the poses which are user-friendly for times of intense heat and humidity. Hopefully, they will help you to thrive and not just survive.

Supta Baddha Konasana (5-10 minutes)

Lie over a bolster. Rest your head on a folded blanket.

Support your knees with blankets or blocks. You can use a belt around your sacrum to bind your legs and feet.

Adho Mukha Virasana (3-5 minutes)

Stretch out over the top of a bolster which supports your torso. Your arms are stretched forward.

Have your forearms resting on another bolster beneath the first bolster, and your hands resting on blocks.

Supta Upavistha Konasana (3-5 minutes)

Lie on a bolster at the wall with your buttocks supported on a bolster

and your legs in the splits.

Supported Swastikasana (2-3 minutes each cross of the legs)

Sit cross-legged in front of a chair. Lean forward and place your arms on the seat of a chair.

Rest your head on your folded arms.

Supta Padangusthasana 1 & 2 (1 minute each stretch)

Start with your feet at the wall. Hold a belt that is looped over your foot.

First, stretch your leg up vertically. Hold for 1 minute, then switch to other side. Come back to the original side.

Take your leg out to the side at a right angle. After one minute, repeat to the other side.